I'll be visiting Pittsburgh PA, Washington DC, Dewey Beach and Wilmington Delaware, and New York State in the next little while. I'll continue to post daily with my gluten free suggestions in each location, so be sure to check back often!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

This month was all about family. My dad and my sister celebrated their birthdays (they were born on the same day), my husband and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary, and we spent a family holiday at a cottage. The last time I took a vacation with my parents and sister was for my destination wedding 5 years ago! My goal of spending more time with my family was met in abundance this month. I also got a lovely night out with my husband for our anniversary, which counted as our date night for the month!

My parents and my husband's parents, 2006

Family vacation for wedding, 2006

On the fitness front, I went swimming every day at the cottage and have been going on family walks after dinner since getting back. I've been vigilant about taking my vitamins and my probiotics, since I had been low on energy for a few weeks. I've had more energy since starting the vitamin & probiotic regime.

At home, I'm very happy with my vegetable garden this year. I had planted 8 green bean plants, and we got a great harvest from them. The kale and swiss chard provides leaves all season, as do the parsley, basil, cilantro and rosemary plants. I've harvested some coriander seeds that are drying and that I'll crush as needed to add flavour to soups and stews.

I picked the garlic, and now have19 large heads of garlic and several smaller ones that I'll crush to use as a paste. I'll definitely be planting more this fall! The leeks are coming along, as are the hot pepper plants and eggplants. My biggest surprise this year has been the fennel and tomato plants. The fennel plants are almost as tall as I am! I use the leaves for cooking, the seeds for seasoning (especially in homemade sausages) and I eat the bulb raw. I only planted one large tomato plant this year and two small ones, but the large plant is almost 6 ft. high! Last year my tomato plants didn't yield very many tomatoes, but it looks like this year will be different.

A very bad photo of my tomato and fennel plants

First Green Bean Harvest

We still haven't gotten around to painting the garage door or to staining the fence, but with the heat wave, it just hasn't been possible.

I finished the first draft and some revisions of the first book I wrote, and I've started writing another. I don't know that all this writing will actually lead to anything, but I have to say, I really love the whole process. That includes writing this blog. I've managed to post daily, and I've had a great time doing it!

In August, there's more traveling on the horizon. I'll be in Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Delaware, and New York state as we take a little road trip. We have a wedding to attend in DC and a friend to visit in Delaware, so we figured we'd just take the scenic route. I'll be posting my travel thoughts and gluten free reviews along the way. Don't forget, all my travel related posts can be found under the Gluten Free Travel tab above.

Friday, July 29, 2011

In my review of Golden Beach Resort, I mistakenly put the price for a 2 bedroom, rather than a three bedroom cottage. Leave it to my mom to find the error! I'm glad she did, though, because it reiterated my verdict about the value of the accommodations for the price we paid. I've updated the post, but essentially, I posted that we paid $1199 + tax for the week, with an additional $115 for my son, the 7th person.

We ACTUALLY paid $1349 + tax. I also should mention that the $115 was half the rate for an extra person for the week due to my son's age.

My verdict in my original post was that the accommodations didn't justify the price. Today, that assessment was confirmed.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

One of the downfalls of dealing with gluten issues is that EVERY TIME my son gets an upset stomach I panic that it's because of cross-contamination. Particularly since he's too young to tell me specifically what's wrong. Instead, it becomes a waiting game to see how long the digestive problems last.

I should have been prepared for a crazy day when my son woke up at 4:45 am asking to go downstairs and eat fish sticks. He drifted off whispering "I don't want to go to sleep...". He actually ended up sleeping in this morning once I rubbed him back to sleep. I thought the late wake-up was a good thing until he had his first accident (peeing on the floor) and subsequent bout of diarrhea.

We met my sister and niece at an indoor amusement park that we take the kids to when the weather is bad. Rather than being excited about the rides, he began to cry and repeat "I don't want an adventure!" over and over. Finally, after about a half hour of reassuring him that the whistle on the train wasn't going to hurt him, he began going on rides.

Then he had to go to the bathroom. And again, and again. I thought we were ok until I took him into the jungle gym area and he went poo in his underwear. He was upset, since he never has those types of accidents in his underwear anymore. I briefly panicked when I thought about how exactly to get him to the bathroom without leaving a trail of diarrhea behind.

To put this in perspective, this indoor play area is one of the largest in the country. By the time we wove our way out of the maze we were in, found his shoes and put them on, and trudged across the amusement park to the bathroom, it was an ugly situation.

I shut the door to the bathroom stall, took off his shoes and then tried to finagle his underwear off without creating more of a mess.

I was unsuccessful.

Thank G-d I had wipes in my purse, because I was wiping diarrhea off my son, myself, and the floor.

Lucky me.

My sister had a pull-up in her purse, so I yanked it on him and we hightailed it home. After two more bouts of ever messier diarrhea, he finally went down for a 2 1/2 hour nap. Which is unusual in itself.

I'm inclined to belief that this is more of a stomach bug than a cross-contamination issue for a few reasons. The frequency and consistency were different, his behaviour was better than when he's contaminated, and most importantly, I know what he's eaten over the last few days.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

We spent the last week at the Golden Beach Resort, and I've been thinking about how to frame this review the whole time. I'm torn. I'll start with the facts, and then move into my feelings about the accommodations. Rice Lake is located in Ontario, Canada, about two hours from Toronto. The closest cities are Cobourg and Port Hope on the south side and Peterborough on the north. Click HERE for a map of the area.

The Location: The Resort is easy to find, located off a single lane road and well marked from the main street. I have always enjoyed Rice Lake because the water is generally warm in the summer, the lake is shallow for a good stretch before dropping down, and the area isn't overdeveloped.

The Resort: We chose this place because the cottages are located directly on the lake, and the website was well developed and informative. As well, bringing a 2 and 3 year old with us, we liked that the resort offers children's activities, a splash pad, wading pool and a children's centre. They also have a pool, playground, petting zoo, family restaurant, and boat rentals. For a full list of amenities, click HERE.

My niece at the children's music show

My son at the playground

We were originally just looking for a traditional cottage experience, but were a bit worried that the two little ones wouldn't have enough to do with just a lake and a boat. They're too small to really go out fishing or to stay in the water all day. We thought the variety of activities would provide us with more options.

The resort is waterfront, with a beautiful view and a small (20 ft. or so) man-made sandy beach where kids can play. Rice lake's bottom is rocky and weedy, so the kids still had to wear water shoes to go in, but that's normal.

The resort offers cottages, trailers, and camping.

Accommodations: We stayed in a traditional, lakefront cottage. Click HERE for a slide show of photos of the cottage we stayed in. Our cottage faced the water, had a small charcoal BBQ and fire pit outside, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and living room. The walls were wood paneled and there were ceiling fans in every room. We payed $1349 + tax for the week, plus an extra $115 for a 7th person, which was only half the usual rate because my son is only 2 years old. Not cheap, but we knew we were partially paying for the amenities of the resort. Boat rental is not included in the price.

The Pros: The Resort really does have all the amenities of a resort, including the many children's areas, a general store, fish cleaning and storing facilities, bicycle rentals, boat rentals, trails, etc. The small beach was nice with the kids, because Rice Lake has no natural beach front. My son and his cousin spent a lot of time filling their buckets with sand.

The view from the shore was spectacular, and we were treated to breathtaking sunsets each night. The general store was well stocked, the restaurant food was good and the service was friendly.

Our cottage neighbours had two children aged 4 and 6, and they were about the right age to take advantage of the children's program. There's enough variety at this resort that children really shouldn't get bored. Our neighbours said that this was their 3rd year visiting, and they planned to return again next year.

Cons: The cottage itself. Let me preface this by saying that I have no problems staying in a rustic cottage. I like to camp, and I don't need a ton of amenities. That being said, for the price we paid, the accommodations should have been better. The windows were difficult to open and several were stuck and stayed shut, making it unbearably hot inside the cottage.

The windows at the far end of the sofa don't open at all

The only morning it was cool enough to eat breakfast inside

The fridge didn't work properly. The first repair man told us it was because we had too much food in it so it would take a while to cool down. 24 hours later, we had to throw out a large chunk of our groceries. The next repair man offered us free bags of ice to keep our food cool. We refused to stay with a malfunctioning fridge for an entire week, and they eventually replaced the fridge.

The front door didn't close properly, and there was a wasp's nest above it that they kept promising to spray but never did.

The cupboards had bowls and plates, but literally only 6 bowls, six cups, six large plates, etc. We had to wash dishes after every meal.

Again, I wouldn't have a problem with this if the price matched the state of the cottage, but it didn't.

Verdict: This is where I'm torn. The price of this resort is high, but part of the price is undoubtedly the amenities. There is a lot to do there. Our kids were a bit too young to participate in most of the children's programming. Besides, they really were happy just swimming and "feeding the fishies" most of the time. I didn't use the pool once, since the water in the lake was such a nice temperature. We fished off the pier, BBq'd. and roasted marshmallows in our little fire pit.

Would I Stay Here Again? Although I see the appeal of this resort for many people, I don't think I would stay here again. There are nicer cottages for a lower price in the area, with air-conditioning. We scoped out a few other cottage rental places, many with children's playgrounds and pools. They were all a few hundred dollars cheaper, and the cottages were more modern and the boat rentals cheaper. None of them had the extensive amenities of Golden Beach Resort, but for the amenities that we used (BBQ, fire pit, lake and playground), we'll pay less and go somewhere else next year.

Monday, July 25, 2011

When temperatures reached unprecedented, record-breaking levels last week, we ditched our non-air-conditioned cottage in favour of cooler quarters for the day. After a morning of mall-walking and 5 pin bowling with the little ones, we picked a Boston Pizza for our lunch stop. I knew that they offered a gluten free pizza option and I wanted to try it out. Several places have been popping up with gluten free crusts lately, and while those I've tried have been edible, I haven't really fallen in love with any of them. Neither has my son. Most of the time the crust is too tough for his little two year old mouth to bite down on and chew comfortably. I hoped that Boston Pizza's option would be better.

We visited the Boston Pizza in Cobourg, Ontario, at lunch time on a Thursday. I asked the greeter about the gluten free pizza, and he was knowledgeable and able to answer all of our questions. Once we were seated, I also asked the waitress about the preparation methods of not only the pizza, but of other menu items as well. My niece was ordering french fries, and I wanted to know if they were fried in the same oil used to fry breaded items in case my son decided he wanted to try a few. I was surprised by how much information she was able to provide about which items on the menu were safe for my son and which were not. The fries are not, by the way.

It's not uncommon to encounter wait staff who can recite the menu items from memory, but who have no idea how the food is actually prepared or what ingredients go into them. Candice from Boston Pizza is not one of those employees. She was friendly, patient, and understood the potential for cross-contamination. She put my concerns about cross-contamination to rest.

The gluten free pizza is only available in the personal pizza size, and our waitress was able to tell us which toppings were gluten free. Since we had to order the personal pizza, we couldn't get my son the kids lunch special which included a drink and dessert. Our waitress provided our son with a gluten and dairy free dessert free of charge instead without being asked.

Since our son is also dairy free, I ordered him a gluten free crust with extra sauce, pepperoni and green olives. I'm not posting the photo because I don't think the picture I took does the pizza justice, especially devoid of cheese!

How was it?

Delicious! The crust was the best gluten free pizza crust I've tasted to date. For those who love a thin crust it might be a little too thick, but for people like me who don't mind a thicker crust, it was delightful. Thankfully my son didn't mind me taking a few bites! Most importantly, it was flavourful and not hard as a piece of cardboard. My son bit into it easily, and really enjoyed it. After eating all of the olives off the top one by one, that is!

Paired with a salad or another side dish, this pizza would make a satisfying meal for most people. Big eaters might find the pizza a bit on the small size. I always find Boston Pizza's tomato sauce a bit too salty, but that's a complaint I have about most commercial tomato sauces. I'm used to making my own, so I'm a little picky.

The downside? It's only currently available as a personal size pizza. I'm not sure why this is. Perhaps it's a pre-made frozen crust (although it didn't taste like it) or maybe it's a trial item to see how much demand there is for the product. Either way, it would be nice to see the option expanded to include all pizza sizes. Everyone at the table got a little taste of my tester slice, and agreed that the crust had a good flavour and that they would have no problem ordering a larger size to share.

Verdict: The best commercial gluten free pizza I've tried yet. The crust held up well to the extra sauce, but wasn't too tough to bite through easily and had a flavour that was pretty close to that of a traditional crust, although with a little bit of sweetness that may or may not appeal to everyone. I liked it.

We don't eat at chain restaurants very often, but it's great to know which one's are safe for us to visit. Especially when we're traveling, chains are often quick and easy choices on the road or in unfamiliar towns. In Cobourg, near the mall, there were three choices: a Chinese Buffet, an A & P, and Boston Pizza. Being confident that Boston Pizza had at least one safe menu option for my son made the decision easy for us.

My wish? That the pizza line be expanded to all size options. And a few gluten free pasta options would be nice too. Please?

Saturday, July 23, 2011

We arrived home from the cottage this afternoon to a hot, hot house and with a cranky, cranky little boy. We had breakfast this morning at a small restaurant so we wouldn't be stuck cleaning right before leaving, and a helpful patron took a lovely (and the only) family photo of all of us.

Quite the handsome group, if I do say so myself!

After arriving home and getting everything in order, I sneaked out to the backyard to check on my garden. We had a neighbourhood kid come over and water for us while we were gone, and she did a great job. Our plants flourished despite the heat.

Some of my kale

The tomato and fennel plants need some tending

Some jalapeño peppers

The green beans I picked, and went straight to my neighbour

I've got a lot to blog about this coming week. Menu plan goes up tomorrow with some healthy, post-vacation meal ideas, a review of Boston Pizza's gluten free crust, as well as a review of the place we rented in Rice Lake, Ontario. For now, I'm off to watch the first installment of the Harry Potter series on TV with my husband, and do nothing but relax!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Tonight is our last night at the cottage. Tomorrow we'll pack up, go out for breakfast, and head home. With the heat, we picked a good week to be within walking distance of a lake! A few thoughts on the past week:

1- Fires burn better when the firewood is cut into smaller pieces. Bring an axe, or borrow one from a friendly cottage neighbour (like we did).

2- When there's a choice between a lake and a pool to swim in, choose the lake.

3- Apparently with a cast iron frying pan, you can cook just about everything over the fire. Including steak.

4- Fishing is fun for a two year old, but throwing rocks into the water to "feed the fish" is even more fun.

5- S'mores can be made gluten and dairy free, and taste just like the real thing!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Today we're experiencing record breaking heat in Ontario. Temperatures with humidity hovering around 48C, or 120F. There isn't any air conditioning in this cottage, so the post about Boston Pizza's Gluten Free pizza will have to wait for tomorrow!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Spending time away from the daily grind of up, dressed, fed and out, allows for some extra thought to go into meals that typically have very little thought put into them. I've been trying to move away from cereal several times a week to more varied options, but some days go better than others. We're vacationing with my sister, my niece, and my parents, but only my son is gluten free. We came up with some breakfast ideas that are not only delicious, but gluten and dairy free, so that everyone can enjoy breakfast together.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Who says going gluten free means missing out on campfire traditions? S'mores, a combination of graham crackers, marshmallow, and melted chocolate is one of those treats everyone should have the joy of experiencing as a child. I know that some traditions are not going to possible with my son's food restrictions, but luckily, S'mores will not be one of them!

I picked up a box if Kinnickinnick S'moreables gluten and dairy free graham-style crackers and set about creating the ultimate gluten free 'more for my two year old.

The crackers are a rectangular shape rather than traditionally square, but they're the perfect size to break in half and create the perfectly sized S'more for little fingers.

We also had a box of regular graham crackers for comparison, and despite the gluten free crackers having a smoother consistency, the flavour was pretty close.

Add one campfire:

Some toasted marshmallows and pure, dairy free chocolate, and the S'more is born!

Our chocolate was a bit too thick to melt entirely, but I didn't hear any complaints!

Verdict: This product did the job it was supposed to do, had a pretty authentic flavour and didn't crumble under the pressure of being the anchor in a S'more. Everyone agreed that they make a great substitute for a traditional graham cracker. I have a few pie and cake recipes that call for a graham crust; I'm looking forward to trying them out using this product.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

I am in love with this particular type of pretzel, Glutino Gluten Free Pretzel Twists. They are gluten and dairy free, making them perfect for my son. Better than that, they are incredibly delicious. A nice crisp texture that doesn't taste like cardboard, and just the right amount of salt to keep me coming back for more without overpowering the flavour of the pretzel itself. I actually prefer these pretzels to any other brand, gluten free or not.

My obsession has caught on, and now my mother has taken a liking to them, and she informs me that she's spread the love to her colleagues at work.

In my opinion, this is what a great gluten free product should do: attract customers that are both gluten free as well as those who are just looking for a delicious snack and find that the product just can't be beat.

I noticed when purchasing a few bags for the cottage that they now make pretzel sticks, as well as snack size bags that would be perfect for lunches or for packing as a snack. A quick visit to their website and I found that they also make salt-free, sesame, and yogurt covered pretzels. Options are always good!

Unfortunately, they are not cheap- often more than double what a regular bag of pretzels would cost. For this reason, I have carefully rationed out my son's pretzels in the past.

However, if you live in Ontario and are located close to a FreshCo supermarket, they consistently sell the product for approximately two dollars less than I've seen anywhere else. At first I thought it was just a grand opening promo, but the price has remained low for a few months. Definitely worth a visit if this product is on your wish list. FreshCo has a small gluten free section, but it's worth a look for some other well priced products.

I bought two bags this week. I prefer them dipped in mustard, but I wouldn't judge you for dipping them in some pure dark chocolate either. Enjoy!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Today was the first time I have had to leave a restaurant because there were no options available on the menu for my son to eat. Except for the House Salad. Everything else contained gluten and/or dairy. Here's what happened.

I met up with a friend and her son in Toronto today to let the kids play for a bit and then we took them to lunch. I always pack food for Etienne, but today I packed more of a snack than a full-blown lunch because the area we were in is full of places to eat. We decided to stop at a little pub-style restaurant for lunch. The menu was pretty tiny, just one side of a laminated sheet of paper, and pretty much everything contained gluten or dairy. The server confirmed that everything is fried in the same fryer, so even the fries were off-limits. From the Caesar salad to the hamburger patties and beyond, there was just no way to even adequately substitute in ways that were guaranteed to be gluten free.

The server was friendly and helpful, and she apologized for not being able to do more, but in the end my friend and I decided it would be best to just eat somewhere else.

We walked about half a block and decided on a Thai & Japanese Restaurant with an extensive menu posted on their door. One dairy free mango smoothie and a mango salad later (can you tell he enjoys mango?) and my son had forgotten all about the fries and was eating a much healthier lunch! I enjoyed some Miso soup, sushi drizzled with pumpkin sauce (a first, but delicious) and some of my son's mango salad. Delicious, gluten and dairy free, and healthy to boot.

I know that dining out GF can be difficult, but I guess because my son is still so young, we don't take him to restaurants frequently. When we do, we generally scope out the place beforehand to make sure that there are enough options for him to choose from and that the restaurant avoids cross-contamination. This was the first time that a spontaneous restaurant choice has resulted in needing to leave and eat somewhere else due to a lack of safe food for him to consume. I think I handled it pretty well, but it reminded me that despite the wonderful and growing number of options, there are still many places I'll have to keep crossed off my list.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I was wandering the aisles of my local Walmart today, when I noticed, smack dab in the REGULAR cereal aisle, two gluten free cereal options I have never encountered before. Gluten Free Rice Chex and Gluten Free Honey Nut Corn Chex! It's been a while since I've spent much time in the regular cereal aisle, so I'm not certain how long this product has been on the market here in Canada, but the "New!" declaration makes me think that it hasn't been very long.

If you're reading this from the United States, please understand that although we share a very long, peaceful and beautiful border with your country, for some reason it often takes companies A LONG TIME to make some of the same products available to us here in Canada that are widely distributed in the USA.

But today, today was a good day!

For some, the idea of a gluten free option being placed smack dab in the middle of the regular aisle could be seen as a problem, and indeed it does make it that much more important to be sure to read the label carefully when purchasing the product. But to me, it also signifies a more mainstream acceptance of gluten free products; a recognition that "gluten free" does not need to hidden away in some cramped back aisle and lumped together with every other "alternative" type of food available. That's not necessarily any safer for the unsuspecting consumer. Many an organic but not gluten free product has been placed on the same shelf with its GF counterpart!

Back to the point, however, is that the box of gluten free Chex is a) the same size as the regular Chex and not some mini-version and b) that it costs the same as the regular box. The former brand of gluten free cereal I was buying cost more than $7 a pop. There were a few cheaper brands out there, but nothing below $5.99 that was regular sized and had a decent flavour.

So, for the price of what I used to pay for one box of cereal, I picked up two- one Gluten Free Rice Chex and one Gluten Free Honey Nut Corn Chex.